Lila Mae Thomas Massey 1900-1975

    Lila was born in Nacodoches County, Texas on 09Apr1900 and was the daughter of William Marion Thomas Jr (01Jan1875-22Aug1956) and Lena Cravey Thomas (06Sep1875-01Dec1947). William and Lena were married in San Jacinto County, Texas on 14Oct1896 and buried at in Shephard, Texas behind the Methodist Church.
    Lila achieved an eight grade education (they did not have twelve grades at that time).
    After World War One, Lila was introduced to Edward Larls Massey.
    They had two sons and six grandchildren.
    She worked as a book keeper in a furniture store during World War Two.
    Ten years after Edward’s death, Lila traveled to California to visit with her friends.  To the families surprise, she came home with a new husband.   Harry D. Overman and Lila were introduced to each other by a common missionary friend. 
    Harry and Lila loved to travel and traveled across the southern United States and Mexico.  Three weeks into a trip in California, Lila died of cardiogenic shock due to an acute myocardial infarction.  She died on October 2, 1975 at the Siskiyou General Hospital in Yreka, Siskiyou County, California.  Her body was sent back to Conroe, Texas by the Girdner Funeral Chapel where her body was buried next to Edward's at the Mims Cemetery in Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas.
Funeral services were held at the Metcalf Chapel of the Pines on Monday, 06 Oct 1975 at 10 AM. The pallbearers were Louis Satterfield, Clayton Hughes, George Murphy, Jack Cooper, Russell Law, and W. F. Arnold.
 
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Harry D. Overman
    Lila had the family refer to Harry as "Uncle Harry" so that it would not appear that he was replacing Edward in any way.
    Harry served in the United States Marine Corp between the World Wars.
    Later in life, he had heart problems, required dialysis for his kidneys and suffered from cataracts on his eyes.  The doctors would not operate on his eyes due to his heart problems so he eventually went blind.  When he could no longer read his bible, he gave up and died of depression and a heart attack.  He lived his last years in a private home in California.  His body was buried in a military cemetery in California.
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Source:
• Lila and Edward's sons Raymond Leveritt Massey and Earl Conrad Massey
• Death Certificate of Lila Mae Massey

Additional Resources:
• Elizabeth Cravey Hughes - echughes@email.com
• Mary Griswold of Conroe, Texas